I've been an artist for more than 35 years and I've done countless color swatch charts. The method I use, regardless of medium is a ratio of 2:1. In other words when mixing colors, say lemon yellow and phthocyanine green with the yellow in the down colunm and the green in the row across. Now all down columns are 2 parts color and all the rows across are 1 part color. So in my example I'd use 2 parts yellow and 1 part green which would produce a very light green. Now if the green were in the down column and the yellow in the row across you'd use 2 parts green to 1 part yellow you'd end up with a deeper yellowish green. I like this method best because it gives a larger variation of colors in the same amount of space. These color charts are an artists best friend.
Thank you for making this video! I always had problems figuring out what the warm and cool colors are since grade school. But seeing it in an organized grid like this helped me understand it now. Also I loved seeing all the different combinations at the end. ❤️
But think, you can have cool reds and even cool yellows, those would be the alizarin blues reds, away from the tomato scarlet shades, and a lemon yellow is cooler than a cadmium or chrome yellow. A cool blue would be like Prussian blue, and a warmer one would be ultramarine or even more purplish, a harebell blue. And they don’t mix prettily When I was a little ‘un we were only allowed 3 colours, red, blue and yellow , warm or cool. I always went for the cool. Sometimes they’d run out of my favourites and I can remember finding they looked muddy if you crossed over and had chrome orangey yellows with the bluish reds, for example. I still drool over Prussian blue with lemon yellow!
My first palette was the tube version of this set and it really taught me how to mix and color match. Can not go wrong with a set like this and I still paint with most of these colors from different brands plus a few convenience mixes. I have the set still as you can still buy replacement tubes for it and I give it to anyone who wants to try watercolor along with a few tips. A great way to learn.
Very organized. It helped me understand enormously. I’ve got my chart made and ready to begin painting. As well as useful, the charts are beautiful. Thank you for being so inspiring.
Thanks so much for showing exactly how to load the brush and create such a useful reference. I had to chuckle when you described being a lefty - as am I. So I'm going to run the dots across the top and down the right side so I have a left-handed diagonal so I can keep going :-D Lefties unite! (Thank you for the printable :-)
Thanks Georgiou for your work and patience from another South paw...just today I was working on swatching my Cotman travel palette to carry out side with colour mixes on the back on a small peace of watercolour paper and it drove me crazy 🤪!! I don't have clear art table to work right now so I was working on my knees..and near the end of project dropped small blob of water on work!! I can laugh now that it is in the past and you are switching not me...Thanks😊❤❤ from Canadian artist.
Thanks for a helpful video. I was hoping to find a method to do this that included instructions on controlling the pigment and water used. This is just what I was looking for.
The half tint is excellent, however you should do a full swatch on the top or side or both, and tint the base colors down the diagonal. The way you have it set up now there is no tint for any of the base colors.
Probably the only colour chart video where I actually understood how these are created. Thank you! I have a question. Don't you think that we get less colour variations of the colours closer on the grid to each other than the ones farther apart? For example red and orange have far less variation than blue and green, with this method?
Thank you so much for this video it has helped me immensely. I would like some advice and help from you with regard to the amount of Daniel Smith tubes of paint, which is 52. Logic tells me that I would need to work with extra sheets of watercolour paper to achieve the results that I need. Would you agree or, is there another way around it. I would be so grateful to hear from you. Thank you 🙏
I just decided to try to water color and could not decide on what would be best watercolor to buy. I want to get Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolor Studio Set, 45 because I don’t know how to mix colors. I was pleasantly surprised at how many beautiful colors you can make using just 12 colors.
Hi Georgiou..my Winsor Newton Cotman 12 color palette is different than yours. Can I still follow your pattern using the palette of colors that I have? Does it matter in what order I place the colors at the beginning? Your video is the only one I can find using the WN 12 color palette. Thanks for answering my questions. I am a beginner so I appreciate your knowledge.
Hi! Yes you can use your palette of colours, this technique is perfect for any palette as it breaks down different colour combinations available using the colours you have. It doesn’t matter what order you go in colour wise, some artists work from warm to cool colours so the chart has more structure when finished, but you can go in any order. I hope this helps! 💚
@@GeorgiouDraws Very thoughtful and well explained video, just what I needed. Thanks for providing the template as well! The only thing is it was so hard to figure out which color you were painting since you were calling them brown, blue, etc. Please list the colors in order you used in description so it helps beginners like me. Thank you keep up the great work❤️😇🙏
Hello Georgiou and thank you for this great tutorial! It’s a great way for me to get started. Two questions: my 12 pan palette came with lamp black and I wonder if you recommend using black in the color mixing process? Also, wonder if you can help me find the link to the printable mixing chart? Thanks so much!!
In my charts I don’t make a pastel for the 2nd of each square. I actually do one of the squares with more of one color and the other square with more of the 2nd color.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I appeciate all the time you took to teach us how to do this. I've got the 26 color half-pan set...Hope I'm successful.
vera channel Hi! Hmm, it’s a tricky one as I love having a variety of colours to work with, however I don’t think you should ever rely too much on the colour in the pan.. learning to mix your own version of a colour will take you a long way so in short I’d say 12! I might do a video on mixing different colours that would better explain this 💚
Unless you enjoy mixing go with the 24. I started with a limited palette and wished I hadn't. It's a real pain having to mix every single color that touches your page, often times with multiple combinations...I wasted a TON of paint and spent more time mixing than painting. You can always practice color mixing with the 24 set too so it's better to have more than you need than not enough. It's also more cost effective as the larger set is never twice the price.
It would be a lot more comfortable for you if you put your paint, water, and towel on the left side of your paper. Water at the top, paint on the far left, and towel between the paint and your paper. You constantly risk dropping either water or paint across your paper as well as dragging your arm through it the way it is set up now.
Yayeee a fellow Brit! Great tutorial! I'm a type A perfectionist starting out in watercolours. I only have round watercolour brushes right now. Can I use acrylic brushes to do this activity as I have stacks of those. 😊
Salma Meah Haha hey and thank you! I’ve done this tutorial with round brushes too and it works fine, but you could use acrylic brushes too. Just don’t use acrylics with your watercolour brushes, they can’t handle the paint the same! 💚
The way you filled the brush with so many of the product was driving me crazy. Such a waste!! I was yelling nooo you dont need that much of paint for a swatch...
Nice organizing exercise of color mix possibilities with any group of paints. But the almost 'subliminal' repetitive background bass rif drove me away. I find any background 'music' in instructional videos distracting and usually superfluous. I guess that's "old school" but science agrees with me.
The logic seems wrong in your chart 😂 its not necessary to put dots on the top and the left. Two slanted row of water colours should be paint in the middle. A slanted row of rich pigment and a slanted row of pigment mixed with water. And then figure out the intersection point of two colours would be ok. Finally, you will got a very logical chart with one side of rich pigment and one side of light pigment watercolor. You could also add neo color and other mediums into the slanted row for further studies. that’s would be super interesting.
I've been an artist for more than 35 years and I've done countless color swatch charts. The method I use, regardless of medium is a ratio of 2:1. In other words when mixing colors, say lemon yellow and phthocyanine green with the yellow in the down colunm and the green in the row across. Now all down columns are 2 parts color and all the rows across are 1 part color.
So in my example I'd use 2 parts yellow and 1 part green which would produce a very light green.
Now if the green were in the down column and the yellow in the row across you'd use 2 parts green to 1 part yellow you'd end up with a deeper yellowish green. I like this method best because it gives a larger variation of colors in the same amount of space. These color charts are an artists best friend.
I had to reread this a few times to understand, but I think I do now, and holy crap this is a really good idea!
Thank you, this makes a lot more sense in my mind!
I never did a color swatch before in my life (I'm 73), and your advice helped me a lot.
That's how I was taught as well. Interesting to watch a different method.
@@monicarosebloom5057 You are welcome. Someone who demonstrates this method beautifully is The Art Sherpa herebon RUclips.
Best thing with getting a new pallet is making mixing charts :D
Thank you so much for this. I’ve just started with watercolors and this helps so much.
Thank you for making this video! I always had problems figuring out what the warm and cool colors are since grade school. But seeing it in an organized grid like this helped me understand it now. Also I loved seeing all the different combinations at the end. ❤️
I’m so glad it’s helpful for you! It definitely demystifies some of the colour theory rules! 🙌🏼
But think, you can have cool reds and even cool yellows, those would be the alizarin blues reds, away from the tomato scarlet shades, and a lemon yellow is cooler than a cadmium or chrome yellow. A cool blue would be like Prussian blue, and a warmer one would be ultramarine or even more purplish, a harebell blue.
And they don’t mix prettily
When I was a little ‘un we were only allowed 3 colours, red, blue and yellow , warm or cool. I always went for the cool. Sometimes they’d run out of my favourites and I can remember finding they looked muddy if you crossed over and had chrome orangey yellows with the bluish reds, for example. I still drool over Prussian blue with lemon yellow!
My first palette was the tube version of this set and it really taught me how to mix and color match. Can not go wrong with a set like this and I still paint with most of these colors from different brands plus a few convenience mixes. I have the set still as you can still buy replacement tubes for it and I give it to anyone who wants to try watercolor along with a few tips. A great way to learn.
Brilliant, thank you for the clear instructions and easy to watch video! 💕
Chanone Smith I’m so glad it’s useful for you! 💚
Creating the chart itself, with the columns and rows, seemed a bit daunting, so I thank you so much for the printable! Great tutorial too!
Very organized. It helped me understand enormously. I’ve got my chart made and ready to begin painting. As well as useful, the charts are beautiful. Thank you for being so inspiring.
So satisfying to watch!! 😍😍
Exactly what I needed! I'm about to begin my watercolour journey. Thank you!
Thanks so much for showing exactly how to load the brush and create such a useful reference.
I had to chuckle when you described being a lefty - as am I. So I'm going to run the dots across the top and down the right side so I have a left-handed diagonal so I can keep going :-D
Lefties unite! (Thank you for the printable :-)
THANK YOU. Finally, I understand how to make the chart. I have watched others and just seem so confusing. well done.
Glad it was helpful!
I could watch this for hours this is so relaxing
Thanks Georgiou for your work and patience from another South paw...just today I was working on swatching my Cotman travel palette to carry out side with colour mixes on the back on a small peace of watercolour paper and it drove me crazy 🤪!! I don't have clear art table to work right now so I was working on my knees..and near the end of project dropped small blob of water on work!! I can laugh now that it is in the past and you are switching not me...Thanks😊❤❤ from Canadian artist.
This was simple and straightforward and now I am going to redo my color chart as I didn’t do the pastels.
I love this i just got my first pallete and i really needed this 🥰
After watching many toturials ,you got girl. Thanks.
I just picked up this exact palette as an absolute beginner and this is SO HELPFUL!
Where from?
so satisfying watching you do this. Thanks
Watching this video is somehow therapeutic ✨❣️
Very useful! I will do the same as soon as I receive the palette ❤
Very helpful tutorial. clear explanation for total beginners like me.
Thanks for a helpful video. I was hoping to find a method to do this that included instructions on controlling the pigment and water used. This is just what I was looking for.
Lefty here too life is difficult at times. 😆🎨
Excellent video!!
This was really helpful. Great color mixes. Thank you.
Best explanation ever. Thanks ❤
The half tint is excellent, however you should do a full swatch on the top or side or both, and tint the base colors down the diagonal. The way you have it set up now there is no tint for any of the base colors.
Thank your awesome. I’m new at this and it’s been confusing.
You are amazing!! Thank you for teaching us
What an informative video! Thank you fellow lefty!
I would love a video on doing complementary color wheel (print out as well pretty please) and thanks for being a lefty!!!!
I’ll pop it on the list! 🙌🏼
@@GeorgiouDraws Thank you
Very helpful, thanks.
This is very helpful, thank you!
Gray work! Huge utility
Thank you for the mixing template!
❤ THANK YOU 😊😊😊
You're welcome 😊
Probably the only colour chart video where I actually understood how these are created. Thank you!
I have a question. Don't you think that we get less colour variations of the colours closer on the grid to each other than the ones farther apart? For example red and orange have far less variation than blue and green, with this method?
Great tutorial!💛
Thank you for this and thank you for the chart download!
I love the way you mix. You move slow enough so we can see what's happening. thank you =D
This is so cool, thanks 😊
Wonderful!!!
Hi Georgiou. What kind of paper are you using to print the chart onto please?
really helpful advice.. great colour chart... but the background music's driven me nuts..
Thank you so much for this video it has helped me immensely. I would like some advice and help from you with regard to the amount of Daniel Smith tubes of paint, which is 52. Logic tells me that I would need to work with extra sheets of watercolour paper to achieve the results that I need. Would you agree or, is there another way around it. I would be so grateful to hear from you. Thank you 🙏
YOU SAVED MY LIFE TODAY! THANKS HAHA
I just decided to try to water color and could not decide on what would be best watercolor to buy. I want to get Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolor Studio Set, 45 because I don’t know how to mix colors. I was pleasantly surprised at how many beautiful colors you can make using just 12 colors.
So much better if you had said what the colours are. Palettes even from the same maker vary widely in the contents.
Hi Georgiou..my Winsor Newton Cotman 12 color palette is different than yours. Can I still follow your pattern using the palette of colors that I have? Does it matter in what order I place the colors at the beginning? Your video is the only one I can find using the WN 12 color palette. Thanks for answering my questions. I am a beginner so I appreciate your knowledge.
Hi! Yes you can use your palette of colours, this technique is perfect for any palette as it breaks down different colour combinations available using the colours you have. It doesn’t matter what order you go in colour wise, some artists work from warm to cool colours so the chart has more structure when finished, but you can go in any order. I hope this helps! 💚
@@GeorgiouDraws Very thoughtful and well explained video, just what I needed. Thanks for providing the template as well! The only thing is it was so hard to figure out which color you were painting since you were calling them brown, blue, etc. Please list the colors in order you used in description so it helps beginners like me. Thank you keep up the great work❤️😇🙏
Hello Georgiou and thank you for this great tutorial! It’s a great way for me to get started. Two questions: my 12 pan palette came with lamp black and I wonder if you recommend using black in the color mixing process? Also, wonder if you can help me find the link to the printable mixing chart? Thanks so much!!
Black is used in many popular premixed shades including paynes grey, sepia, and indigo.
This took me 10 hours, looks gerat though/ Thanks : )
In my charts I don’t make a pastel for the 2nd of each square. I actually do one of the squares with more of one color and the other square with more of the 2nd color.
The content aside, I just think you're very beautiful and wanted to let you know!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I appeciate all the time you took to teach us how to do this. I've got the 26 color half-pan set...Hope I'm successful.
do you recommend 12 or 24 color set for a beginner?
vera channel Hi! Hmm, it’s a tricky one as I love having a variety of colours to work with, however I don’t think you should ever rely too much on the colour in the pan.. learning to mix your own version of a colour will take you a long way so in short I’d say 12! I might do a video on mixing different colours that would better explain this 💚
Unless you enjoy mixing go with the 24. I started with a limited palette and wished I hadn't. It's a real pain having to mix every single color that touches your page, often times with multiple combinations...I wasted a TON of paint and spent more time mixing than painting. You can always practice color mixing with the 24 set too so it's better to have more than you need than not enough. It's also more cost effective as the larger set is never twice the price.
It would be a lot more comfortable for you if you put your paint, water, and towel on the left side of your paper. Water at the top, paint on the far left, and towel between the paint and your paper. You constantly risk dropping either water or paint across your paper as well as dragging your arm through it the way it is set up now.
thank you so much it helps a lot!!! OwO
Yayeee a fellow Brit! Great tutorial! I'm a type A perfectionist starting out in watercolours. I only have round watercolour brushes right now. Can I use acrylic brushes to do this activity as I have stacks of those. 😊
Salma Meah Haha hey and thank you! I’ve done this tutorial with round brushes too and it works fine, but you could use acrylic brushes too. Just don’t use acrylics with your watercolour brushes, they can’t handle the paint the same! 💚
@@GeorgiouDraws thank you sooo much! 😘
What size brush did you use to fill in the boxes?
Your cotman palette has a different color set, right?
The way you filled the brush with so many of the product was driving me crazy. Such a waste!! I was yelling nooo you dont need that much of paint for a swatch...
Nice organizing exercise of color mix possibilities with any group of paints. But the almost 'subliminal' repetitive background bass rif drove me away. I find any background 'music' in instructional videos distracting and usually superfluous. I guess that's "old school" but science agrees with me.
I have Windsor Newton and Cotman tubes but so so wished you had named the colors. Your demo is useless to me without the knowing what you’ve used. 😩
Please lose the utterly annoying background noise.
I have to agree, great video but struggled to watch it because of the awful music.
someone woke up and chose violence
The logic seems wrong in your chart 😂 its not necessary to put dots on the top and the left. Two slanted row of water colours should be paint in the middle. A slanted row of rich pigment and a slanted row of pigment mixed with water. And then figure out the intersection point of two colours would be ok. Finally, you will got a very logical chart with one side of rich pigment and one side of light pigment watercolor. You could also add neo color and other mediums into the slanted row for further studies. that’s would be super interesting.
This is great but the music was annoying all the way through.
I had to put you on mute 🔕: *to view the video* to the end!!! "😫/😢"
Please kill that awful background noise its not even music.
Easy answer: never paint with Cotman